This invention relates, in general, to the processing of electronic devices, and more particularly to structures and methods for rapidly heating substrates.
The need for non-volatile memory (NVM) devices is rapidly growing due to a large demand for consumer products that retain information in the absence of applied power. This is especially true for portable equipment such as pagers, cellular phones, smart cards, portable computers and personal information managers. Flash memory, ferroelectric memory, and magnetic memory devices are experiencing rapid growth, while established NVM technologies such as EPROM, EEPROM and ROM appear to be stable. Such a diversity of NVM devices utilizing unique materials presents manufacturers with new and often difficult manufacturing challenges.
Rapid thermal processors (RTPs) have been used for sometime in the semiconductor industry mainly in contact formation, barrier layer formation, and implant activation. Although RTPs provide an advantage over conventional furnace processing (e.g., faster ramp rates and reduced process times), RTPs have a disadvantage in that they process a single substrate at time. This affects system throughput and the cost of ownership.
Thus, tools and methods are needed for processing new materials and structures, such as those in nonvolatile memory devices, as wells as for processing conventional materials and structures. The tools and methods must flexible, cost effective, simple to use, and capable of rapidly processing multiple substrates at a time in a reproducible manner.